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This photo was taken on 21 June 1942, a few months before I went to my military service. The photo was taken in the crowd at the port of Buyukada [the largest of the Princes Islands on the Marmara Sea]. You can see me on the left, then the girls in our group, Ester, her sister Ida, Izak Bonofiel’s fiancee Suzan and Izak Bonofiel himself on the right. Unfortunately I cannot remember the surnames of the girls in the group. As we always did on Sundays, that Sundays, too we had come to Buyukada for a day’s outing. While World War II was raging in Europe, we in Turkey continued to live our everyday lives.
The photo was taken by the photographers of Studio Sait. This studio, which was located in Taksim, had many mobile photo services. You could see these photographers everywhere. After they took your photo you could go and pick it up from the studio in Taksim.
All of my friends were Jewish. We weren't members of any association or club. My greatest hobby was the cinema. We would go to the cinemas in Beyoglu, and then to the Greek pastry shop in Tepebasi, to eat a special kind of cake, "milfoy" ["millefeuille" in French], on weekends. Cars were very rare. We would always use the ferry and the tram, and sometimes go in horse carriages. We didn't go on holidays, but went swimming to Buyukada [the biggest of the Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul], and met friends on Sundays.
My best friend was Izak Bonofiyel. They lived in Kuledibi. He was two years younger than me. He was very tall. He was engaged to Suzan, who was one of our female friends, and got married before me. They had two sons. We couldn't keep our close relationship after the military service was over. I guess, they now live in Nisantasi.
